Hot Cereal with Fruit and Nuts

I found this recipe and wanted to try it, but I'm not a fan of Cream of Wheat.  So I modified.

For 2 servings:

Candy 1/4 cup roughly chopped pecans.  (Cook in 1/2 TBSP melted butter, after a minute, sprinkle 1-2 TBSPs sugar over nuts, cook until sugar starts to melt.  Remove to a plate.  Put in freezer until cereal is ready.)
Mix up and cook 1 serving of cracked wheat or other chunkier hot cereal. I use this yummy stuff.
Mix up and cook 1 serving of Cream of Wheat following directions on the box.
Stir the two cereals together, divide into two bowls.  Sprinkle 1 TBSP brown sugar on each bowl, 1/2 of the pecans and 2 TBSP dried fruit (the apricots are very good, but we also love Craisins).

This has quickly become our favorite breakfasts.

Banana Crunch Muffins

Love this recipe a lot!!  (Just wish Tom liked bananas so I could make it when he was home too!)  I have substituted the granola and the coconut with Grapenuts and Honey Bunches of Oats with success.  Mmmm. . .getting hungry for these as I type.  So good!  Got this recipe from the Food Network.

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 pound unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 2 extra-large eggs
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 bananas)
• 1 cup medium-diced ripe bananas (1 banana)
• 1 cup small-diced walnuts
• 1 cup granola
• 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
• Dried banana chips, granola, or shredded coconut, optional

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 18 large muffin cups with paper liners. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the melted butter and blend. Combine the eggs, milk, vanilla, and mashed bananas, and add them to the flour-and-butter mixture. Scrape the bowl and blend well. Don't overmix.

Fold the diced bananas, walnuts, granola, and coconut into the batter. Spoon the batter into the paper liners, filling each 1 to the top. Top each muffin with dried banana chips, granola, or coconut, if desired. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool slightly, remove from the pan, and serve.

Breakfast Casserole

I usually make this in a 9x13 pan, but for a family reunion, we tried it in the dutch oven. Yum! I like the extra moistness; Tom did not prefer it. Perhaps in the future I'll cover it during baking then turn the broiler on at the end to crisp the top to please Tom.

12 oz. bag of frozen shredded hash browns

1/2 cup melted butter (or less)

1/2 cup milk

1 lb. bacon, sausage or ham, cooked, crumbled or chopped

4 eggs

1 1/2 cup shredded cheese

1/2 cup green onions & green peppers (both optional)

Brown hash browns in frying pan in butter until browned. (You probably could skip this part.) Spread hash browns in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Sprinkle meat and cheese over potatoes. Beat eggs and milk together. Salt and pepper as desired. Add desired veggies. Pour over all. Bake 30 minutes or until set.

This could be made up the night before and put in the oven in the morning.

Chandler's Birthday Meals

As requested, I made this French Toast for Chan's breakfast. I noted a few more tweaks on that post.

He wanted Tiny Spicy Chicken for dinner. We had it with rice and spring rolls from Costco.

We had BYU brownies for a cake.

Waffles--Cache's birthday breakfast

I learned something about waffles in preparation for this. I wanted to know if I could make the batter up the night before and have it still be good the next day. I found out that you probably could (although in the end, I opted not to mix everything together, but got everything measured and set out so assembly would be quick.) While reading about batters, I read the difference between waffle and pancake batters. I knew that waffle batters always had more oil in them and often more sugar but I never knew why. I thought it was to prevent sticking so I always have used only half the oil in waffles. But the reason why waffles have more oil in them is to help them become crispy (the extra sugar helps that a little too). It said that waffle batter could pass as a pancake batter, but not vice versa. So I decided that for a birthday meal I would make the real thing. YUM!!! I don't know that I've ever had the real thing on waffles. I don't believe I will make them like that every time, but every once in a while I think I will. Here is the recipe I used. It is from my Betty Crocker cookbook.

Waffles

2 large eggs (I separated them per some things I read online)

2 cups flour

1 3/4 cups milk

1/2 cup oil

1 TBSP sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

In large bowl beat eggs until fluffy. (If you let your eggs sit out for 20 minutes or warm them up in warm water, they whip up VERY quickly.) Add remaining ingredients and stir just until smooth. (I like a wire whisk to mix quick breads because they get most of the lumps out quickly without much stirring. And I never worry about all of the lumps--just the big ones.) Cook in waffle iron.

Baked French Toast

Saturdays are a hard cooking day for me. I really want the day off, but kidlets are still hungry. Often we just have fruit and popcorn but I had what I needed for this French Toast so I decided I could manage that much cooking. Definitely NOT healthy! But most everyone really liked it, I was the only with reservations--mostly because I was feeding a dessert to my family as a meal!

Changes I made: I didn't let it sit overnight. I followed one reviewer's suggestion to flip the bread over half way through cooking. That made the topping go to the bottom and stick to the pan instead of stay on the French Toast. If I do that again, I would not add the topping until after they were flipped. It would have been WWWAAAYYY better with my homemade French bread. The boughten version was too soft and a bit mushy. I also cut back to 6 eggs per one reviewer's recommendation mostly because I didn't have as many eggs as I thought I had and wanted enough to get me through the week. And personally, I would cut back on the milk and topping too. If I made it for a birthday breakfast, I would make it to the birthday person's desires, but if I ever make it for a real breakfast, I will tone down the fat content by quite a bit.

More notes: 6-11-11

This time I let it sit overnight and I used my homemade bread. The bread was much better, but I didn't notice too much difference from letting it sit overnight. I also didn't add the topping until halfway through the cooking, used milk instead of cream and only used 6 eggs. It was still quite mushy. I want to try it with about half the milk and maybe 4 eggs. Everyone gobbled it up as it was, but I still want to perfect it to my taste.

Muffin Mix

I bought Lehi Roller Mills muffin mixes for years (I bought 52 at a time so I could have enough on hand to have them once a week for a year!) Then I decided there were better ways to spend my money. But I like to have muffins in my breakfast rotations, however, I don't have a lot of morning time so I need a mix. I found this recipe for a bulk mix. We are plugging our way through it. It is decent, but not fantastic. If I make it again, I think I'll leave out the cinnamon and nutmeg out of the mix. I can easily add it if I want for each batch. There are also many different variations listed on the page with the recipes to change it up. Unfortunately I don't keep too many of those things on hand so changing it up takes planning and I am not a good breakfast planner (maybe that would help me!). Anyway, here is how we like this mix best.

For 12 muffins:

2 3/4 cups mix

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup water

1/4 cup oil

1/4 cup applesauce

1/2 cup craisins

3/4 cup walnuts, chopped

2 TBSP flax seed

After they are in the muffin cup, sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar.

I just found this recipe for a new mix. I'm posting it here so I can find it again. I'll let you know! (It will be a while though since I've still got quite a bit of that other left and only one container.)

Breakfast--Baked Oatmeal

The most recent BYU magazine shared the blog/website Our Best Bites. It said they have over a million views a month. Where have I been?!? So we put them to the test this morning for breakfast with Baked Oatmeal.

I did do the butter-applesauce combo since we're watching Tom's cholesterol. I can see how it would be better with all butter, but my family is none the wiser. I also added nuts and flax seed.

My assessment: quick and easy--although it put me up a little earlier than normal to get the 40 minute bake time by 6:45. But everyone liked it, except one child and I think that had more to do with the slow, hard morning than the meal. Tessa ate it and asked if I would save the leftovers for her. (That's saying something in her book!) I thought it was good, not stellar, but something I'll make again especially since it got pretty good reviews with everyone. In the original recipe she likened them to oatmeal cookies---I thought it was more similar to a cake, texture wise at least. Also, I don't think I'll add nuts next time, while they were okay, I'll save them for a recipe they'll really be enjoyed in.

Friday Night--Coffee Cake

Friday nights are usually a simpler meal. Tonight we're going to have Coffee Cake. We like this recipe.

A few notes:

I've never done the foil thing. . . I just spray the pan with Pam then serve from the pan.

You can use only one measuring cup if you eye ball the 1/2 cup on the sugars and you cream the butter with the sugar before adding the sour cream. This doesn't compromise on the texture of the bread and saves two measuring cups. (I'm always all about conserving dirty dishes!)

I've been adding flax seed to many dishes lately because it supposedly helps cholesterol levels--this one I added it in the topping. I almost always add more nuts ---I like them and they are healthy!

Chandler just saw me put this in the oven and asked what it was. When I told him he said, "Are you going to the temple tonight?" I guess I do make it often on nights we go to the temple! Maybe I should rename it Temple Cake instead of Coffee Cake!

Wednesday Morning: Pancakes

Pancakes are tricky. They shouldn't be, really, but they are for me. I made a recipe for quite a few years that I derived from a family cookbook. Then one day after a number of complaints from the kids, I also became dissatisfied and switched to a Betty Crocker recipe. A couple of years later, I made another switch. Interestingly, the current recipe has the same ingredients as the BC one, but the method is very different. One thing I've learned about quick breads is that methods are very important and most of them you should only stir until blended. They become tough if they are stirred more than needed. Right now, this is our current favorite.

One note, this recipe has you add vinegar to the milk to 'sour' it. This is just a substitute for buttermilk. I use it almost exclusively when a recipe calls for buttermilk. It is cheaper and that way you can make only what you need so it doesn't go bad in your fridge.

I also make my own syrup. For how easily I get sick of certain foods, maple syrup (and homemade Ranch dressing) are ones I never deviate from. While there are many, many kinds of syrup out there, I only like Maple--and homemade. It's fast and easy:

1 part water

2 parts sugar

Boil together until sugar is dissolved.

Maple flavoring to taste.

Blueberry Muffins

I had some blueberries so this morning we had fresh blueberry muffins--a real treat!

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup oil

1 egg

1/3 cup milk

1 cup blueberries

Preheat oven to 400. Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners. Combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Measure oil into a 1 cup liquid measuring cup. Add egg and enough milk to make 1 cup. Whisk together. Mix with flour mixture until just barely mixed. Carefully fold in blueberries. (I like to cut mine in half so you have blueberries in more bites. If I use frozen, I do a quick chop with the food chopper before adding them.) Fill muffin cups and sprinkle with crumb topping. (below) Bake for 20-25 minutes. Check for doneness with a toothpick. (sometimes they look done when they are not done in the middle)

Topping:

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup flour

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Mix well.